Tournament of the Rival Fantasies
by Artificial Puppy
Summary: The Avalanche resistance team, the SeeD 'sorceress hunters', and the Guardians of a summoner are gathered together to fight in random battles to see who is the best in their fields. VII VIII X
1. What's in a Name?

_A/N Ok, I rewrote this fic because I thought that we should skip the registration and get down to business. So, here it is! It doesn't really matter if you haven't_ _read the old one. It was crap anyway. Well, I guess I'll just have to shut up now so you can read right? Read on, and don't forget what to do after reading!_

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_**Chapter 1: What's in a Name?**_

In an alternate universe, the stars of Final Fantasies VII, VIII, and X have gathered together to participate in an exclusive tournament. All of them scattered around the room, conversing with their so-called rivals. Their chitchat was about to end however, for a woman ascended the stage with a microphone in hand.

"Ahem, ahem. Hi everyone! Welcome to the first ever Final Fantasy Tournament. As you already know, I'm Tiffany, and I will be hosting the tournament along with my big bro Xain," Tiffany said to crowd. "Erm…Xain, may you come up the stage please?" she said to Xain who was leaning against the wall at the sidelines of the stage.

"No friggin way," Xain said to himself. He was never good with crowds, and wondered why he was chosen to be the co-host.

"Forgive him, he's a little shy that's all," she apologized. "Anyway, let's get to business here! You all know that you're here for the tournament, and of course, I'll be explaining the rules, since you know, rules are important and…"

"Oh Hell! Just get on with it already!" Barret complained. The host's perkiness was starting to annoy him.

"Fine, fine. Alright, here's the deal. This is not, I repeat, is not a Survivor type game. This will be more of a team effort in which you will have to score points. How you ask will you score points? Easy! There will be different events and challenges in which you will pick a teammate to participate in, so be aware of your mate's strengths and weaknesses, or you could loose in a heartbeat.

The crowd was now chattering with excitement. The four bad-asses (namely Cloud, Vincent, Squall, and Auron) have looked up from where they were sitting with a smirk on their face. Rikku and Yuna were conversing about how thrilling this tournament will be. Zell had stopped munching on his hotdogs, Selphie and Quistis were on his side just incase he might choke again. Tifa, Aerith, and Rinoa however were still indulged in their girl talk.

"So what types of challenges will there be exactly?" Red XIII asked. Apparently, it was Angelo who wanted to ask, but it was a pity he can't talk.

"Oh you won't believe how many! For the next 30 days, there will be nothing but challenges. Well, there will be breaks of course and some special and surprise events. There will be one-on-one fights, tag-team battles, team clashes, and much, much more. The harder the challenge is, the higher the points you get." Tiffany responded.

"When do we start? I'm pumped up now, ya!" Wakka exclaimed. Since he heard there were team clashes, he was hoping that there would be Blitzball.

"The challenges start tomorrow, but first you all are going to need a team name." She explained, looking at each and every one of the participants. "I'll be giving you 20 minutes the most to select a name. Once you're done, just wait for the other teams to finish and we'll reveal them together."

"Humph. That girl's explaining it like we're in fuckin' kindergarten," Cid said, conversing with Irvine in a table to the far left.

"We won't be randomly selected to different teams?" Auron asked in another corner.

"Of course not! We thought that you'd like to stay with your original group!" Tiffany responded.

"Humph, fine." Auron was really hoping that he'd go with a different team since Rikku's crush on him was getting a little too irritating.

"Alright then, gather up your group and start your conferences!" Having said what she had to say, Tiffany walked up to her big bro. "Are you just gonna stand there and let me do all the work?" she told her brother, irritated.

"Why not? You've got one hell of a mouth that won't stop flapping. Nothing I could do compared to that." Xain replied.

Tiffany looked aggravated, but then they both moved to the other room to give the teams time to think up of a team name.

Meanwhile, at the far right corner of the room, the gang of FFVIII was arguing about what their team name ought to be…

"Simple, we should be the SeeDs. After all, all of us here are SeeDs," Quistis suggested.

"Ahem," was Rinoa's only reply, pointing to herself.

"Yeah, Rin isn't a SeeD, we can't use that name." Selphie responded, then leaned over to Zell. "She's not a SeeD, but a spoiled, annoying, clueless brat, that's what." Zell snickered at her comment.

"I got it! How about the Heartthrobs?" Irvine said. "It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"You know, not all of us are die-hard flirts like you are," Quistis said disapprovingly. "Can't you think about anything else but girls?"

"Oh! I've got it!" Rinoa raised a hand. "The Lionhearts! How about that!" she exclaimed with a tone of triumph.

Squall just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really care what the group would be called, so he just stayed out of the conversation.

"Hey, that's not fair." Zell complained. "That's Squall's ultimate weapon. Might as well name the group Ehrgeiz or Exeter."

"Ooh, Save the Queen, Strange Vision, and Shooting Star!" Selphie cried out excitedly, but the group just looked at her irritably. "What? I thought we were playing a game." She said to them as innocently as possible.

"Urgh, we can't be the Lionhearts! It's too centered on 'snobby' over there." Irvine pointed at Squall. "Besides, the world doesn't revolve around him; he's not the only one who saved the Earth. But I must admit it's a bad-ass name for our team.

"So you're saying that we should name the team after you?" asked Rinoa in a sort of teasing way.

"Of course not! But I would like that." He smiled. He ran a hand through his hair while gazing at Tifa dreamily, who seemed to be arguing with Cid.

Zell snapped his fingers at Irvine's ear but it didn't wake him from his revere. "Yo! Earth to Irvine!"

"Forget it Zell. We've lost him." Quistis said to Zell. She was looking at what had caught his attention and wasn't surprised why he was in that state. "Those couple of things will sure keep him happy these next thirty days." She shook her head.

Squall was getting irritated that they haven't chosen a name yet. There was a lot more arguing between his teammates, mostly between Zell and Rinoa since they lost Irvine, before they gave up and had no idea what name they'd use.

"How about Ragnarok?" Squall spoke up.

"W-what?" Zell couldn't believe his ears.

"Ragnarok. After our airship." He repeated, trying to keep his cool. He really gets annoyed easy if he had to repeat his words over again.

"Yeah, I heard you the first time, but…" Zell started.

"…you haven't spoken since was arrived here." Selphie finished his sentence. "We thought you lost your voice or something, teehee!" she said jokingly.

"Whatever." Squall replied in his usual bored tone.

"So, what do you think guys?" Rinoa looked around at her teammates.

"It's an excellent name, I should say. I couldn't expect less from my top student." Quistis said approvingly, adjusting her glasses in the bridge of her nose.

"Reality check, you're not an instructor anymore, Ms. Trepe." Zell replied.

"Well, I will be again once someone replays the game!" she retorted.

"Okay…..well, I approve. Ragnarok it is?" Selphie asked, but then just remembered, "Wait, what about Irvine?"

"Let the guy gag. Besides who cares about his opinion? It's always girls, girls, girls." Zell looked at Irvine in disgust since saliva began dripping of his mouth.

"Ragnarok it is!" Rinoa replied to Selphie with a high five.

"Our official team name: Team Ragnarok." Quistis said, confirming it.

"Finally," their group leader said to himself. All that arguing before was starting to make his ears bleed.

At the FFVII corner of the room, the team had already decided what name they'd use. Well, not before all those curses and screams from Cid who wanted to name the group 'Highwind'.

"Highwind is good I tell ya! Highwind! Just because you bastards are from Avalanche, doesn't mean that that should be our team name!" he shouted at Barret. He was arguing with Tifa at first, but she gave up, so Barret took her place. The two bad-ass, bad-mouths have been on each others throats for minutes, leaving the others to just stand and watch.

"What a sorry excuse for a team name that would make. Why not Team Sierra instead?" Bearret retorted with a note of heavy sarcasm. "What a fucking girly name that would be. Besides, Avalanche would give the other teams a message that we are a force that shouldn't be reckoned with."

"Heh, what's so special about snow falling from a mountain? I can't believe you used that shitty name for your resistance team!" Cid yelled at him.

Both at them continued to argue that the rest where getting tired of it, except for Cloud who was looking at them anxiously. The others just sat there at their table until their fight would end, having conversations while they were at it.

"Hey, Tifa." Aerith poked Tifa in the shoulder.

"Hm?...What?" Tifa turned to Aerith and saw her giggling at what she was eying.

"Over there!" Aerith pointed at FFVIII's corner of the room.

"What about them?" She didn't really get the point, but Aerith continued to giggle.

"Not them! Him!" she pointed directly at Irvine who's eyes were directed at Tifa's 'ahem'.

"Ew, gross! That's guys drooling!" She still didn't get why Aerith giggled at something so nasty, but she can't help but crack a smile herself. "What the heck is he staring at?"

"You silly!" Aerith laughed a lot harder now.

Tifa turned from Aerith, to Irvine, following his gaze right down to her chest. "Oh." She blushed.

"You should go talk to him! He is so interested in you." Aerith told her.

"What? No way! I might as well stay away from him. Besides, I…wait a minute, your not planning what I think you are, are you?" Tifa turned to Aerith with suspicion in her eyes.

"Er…planning what?" a drop of sweat ran through Aerith's face.

"You're planning to hook me up with Mr. Drooly-pants over there so you could have Cloud to yourself!" Tifa snapped.

Aerith looked shocked at Tifa's statement, "Tifa, you wouldn't expect me to do something like that would you?" she replied, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"So it is true! Why you 'BEEP'" she said as she lounged toward Aerith

The rest is censored after that. So, at another corner of the table, it seemed like Yuffie has gotten hold of some materia.

"Yuffie! Give that back! You can't just go around stealing stuff from people" an infuriated Vincent chased Yuffie around the table.

"I'm a thief! What do you expect?" Yuffie replied. She climbed up one of the pillars in the room and settled herself in the pieces of wood that held up the roof. "Hah! Can't reach me here, can ya?" she said as she stuck out her tongue at the so-called vampire.

Vincent's eyes were bulging out of their sockets in anger. He knew himself that he could fly up there as Chaos, but if he did transform, he would lose control of himself.

"Let her go Vincent. There's plenty more materia in the world, not just that box you have." Red XIII said, walking up to Vincent.

"You don't understand, that box is special," his hands formed into fists as he watched Yuffie waving her butt at him. "Get down here Yuffie!"

"Make me! Better yet, why not climb up here yourself?" she replied, but Vincent didn't do anything but stare at her. "Oh well, if your not gonna do anything about it, I'll just open this up and claim my precious prize!"

She opened the box and found many different colored orbs inside; most of them though were white. But something was amiss here…

"Hey, what the…these materia have holes in them! Are these special type materia thingies?" she looked at the box confusingly.

"I swear Yuffie, if you lay one hand on them, I'll…I'll…"Vincent warned her, but Yuffie had already picked a white one up and examined it.

"Hey! There are writings here! Hm…Tiger Woods…who the heck's Tiger Woods?" Yuffie scratched her head in bewilderment.

"YUFFIE!" Vincent screamed.

"Vincent! What's wrong with you?" Red was getting worried of Vincent's sudden change in behavior. "You kind of seem out of character. Calm down.

"Calm down? How can I calm down! She just touched my 'Limited Edition Golf Balls' with pro golfer's signatures!" he cried. "They were untouched I tell you! Untouched!"

"Uhhh…" Red was unsure what to do himself. He never knew about Vincent's great obsession for the sport.

Yuffie kept fumbling through the golf balls, just incase there was any materia hidden among them, while Vincent trembled at the sight of her throwing them around the room like useless balls of paper.

"Man, no luck. Here's your box back." She threw the empty box to Vincent and hit him square in the face accidentally.

"That's it!" Vincent took out his gun and aimed it at Yuffie. No one seemed to care, however, about the situation before them, that there wasn't anyone who tried to stop the fight.

Yuffie got up immediately and barely evaded the first shot, but doing so, she fell a good many feet to the floor. Vincent walked up to her and aimed his gun down at her, "My fallen golf balls shall be avenged." Now she was really in trouble…big time.

Again, the rest is censored. Back at Barret and Cid's end of the table, Cid seemed to have been knocked out during their little prattle and Barret and Cloud looked highly amused.

"Heh, that'll teach him," Barret said, spitting on Cid.

"Well then, the team name shall be Avalanche then?" Cloud asked Barret and he nodded. "Guess we should tell the gang." But when Cloud faced the gang, all of them seemed to be having fights of their own. Tifa and Aerith were sprawled on the floor in a middle of a catfight, and Yuffie was hiding behind a pillar from Vincent who was being held back by Red XIII.

"You want me to…"Barret said, readying his gun arm, but was cut off by Cloud.

"Nah, let them cool down themselves" he told Barret as another bullet got fired from Vincent's gun.

"Humph, damned bastards got no self-control," Barret replied and sat himself down on a chair to stare at the commotion. Then, he looked around and realized… "Hey, where the hell Cait Sith?"

Cloud just shrugged.

While the group of FFVIII had just finished their argument, and FFVII has just started theirs, FFX is another story…

"How about Team Spira? After our world?" Lulu suggested

"Ah come on Lu, you already mentioned that for like, twelve times." Wakka complained.

The gang looked completely bored. No one had come up with any good names to use for their team, and the same suggestions have been repeated over and over.

"Well, if you guys can't think of anything, let's go for Yevon. Team Yevon. Sounds good, ya?" Wakka told the group.

"Ur lusa uh! Ed'c ymfyoc Yevon drec, Yevon dryd fedr oui. Oui'na cilr y tea-rynt Yevonite." Rikku exclaimed. She was getting so frustrated that she was talking in Al Bhed instead of English.

"_Oh come on! It's always Yevon this, Yevon that with you. You're such a die-hard Yevonite."_

"Er…come again?" Tidus looked questioningly at Rikku, but she only sighed at him.

"How about naming our team after an Aeon? I really love the name Valefor." Yuna suggested.

"Hud y lryhla," Rikku replied rolling her eyes. She wasn't acting like herself at all since they got together in groups.

"_Not a chance."_

Yuna, who apparently understood her, looked a little hurt.

Auron and Kimahri just sat at their seats, thinking how hopeless the situation was. They looked on at their comrades who were still suggesting the same names but none agreed on the other's suggestions. The five suggestions that have come up were Spira, Yevon, Valefor, Abes, and Al Bhed. None of them sounded good enough for the legendary guardian. So finally he spoke up.

"I would suggest that you think of a name that makes me care, 'cause if you can't even do that, I might as well forfeit this tournament." Auron told them, with a tone of irritation in his voice. His statement however helped stopped the argument between the summoner and her four guardians.

"Auron right. Name should be good name. A strong name." Kimahri said, agreeing with Auron.

"I guess we should think of something strong," Tidus said. His mind was deep in thought.

"Well, the one thing I could picture as strong is Sin. But that won't do good." Wakka said, scratching his head.

"What? My old man? Uh-uh, no way!" Tidus exclaimed, shaking his head like a maniac.

"Just a thought, ya."

"What about Fahrenheit. You know, pop's airship." Rikku suggested.

"Might as well be Celsius," Yuna replied, giggling.

"Brother's airship? Please, that's even worse!" Rikku shook her head.

"I was thinking The Blitzers, but…oh I dunno," Tidus said

"Man, you're too obsessed with Blitzball, you know," Rikku said, poking him with her elbow.

"So what? Blitzball is my life!"

"Then let me give you a little advice."

"What?"

"Get a life, will ya? And get a girl while you're at it!"

"I already have one!" Tidus replied, winking at Yuna, and she giggled back at him.

Lulu just sat at her seat looking at the group. Tidus and Rikku were arguing about blitzball and airships, Wakka was backing Tidus up, and Auron and Kimahri still sat there silently. Getting too bored with the situation, she glanced over to the other teams. Nothing special was happening in the FFVIII team, everyone was engaged in normal conversations, except for Irvine. When she gazed at the FFVII team, there were no other words to describe the situation, but 'real commotion'.

As she stared, she saw two girls propped on the floor. There was another girl, who had her tongue out, being choked by a guy in red. There was a red dog-like/cat-like thing biting the red guy's ankle. And finally, two guys, who sat at the table, not bothering to stop the commotion.

"Such uncivilized people," Lulu said to herself, but looks like she said louder that she originally intended.

"What you say Lu?" Wakka asked her, and followed her gaze.

Rikku, Tidus, and Yuna did the same and stared at the mayhem, not bothering to go over there and stop them.

"Hey look! That girl who's being choked. Is it just me or do we dress the same?" Rikku asked, pointing at poor Yuffie who was struggling in Vincent's grip.

"If you mean you both dress weird, then yeah," Tidus said, smirking at Rikku.

"What do you mean weird!" she replied in disbelief. "I prefer this outfit than the slutty one I wear in the sequel, you know."

"I have to agree with you in that one!" Yuna said. "Our outfits in the sequel were too revealing"

"Yeah, yeah. But as I was saying, what's up with your gloves? One's small, and one's freakishly big. I mean…" Tidus said but was cut off.

"This 'freakishly big' glove of mine comes in handy when I mix stuff, thank you very much." Rikky retorted. "Besides, I'm not about to get some fashion advice from a guy in overalls." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Enough!" Auron yelled at them, pounding his fist on the table which startled everyone. "You haven't thought of a name for our team yet! And you all are just wasting our time with mindless prattle." He said to them, not bothering to lower his voice. "Twenty minutes have already passed; the hosts could be here…"

The door next to the stage opens unexpectedly, allowing Tiffany and Xain to enter.

"…any second" Kimahri finished Auron's sentence.

Tiffany walked up the stage, holding up her microphone, and as usual, Xain stayed below and leaned against the wall to let his sister do the talking.

"Okay teams, it's been twenty minutes, so I trust that you all have chosen a team name." She said looking at each of the three groups.

The group of FFVIII has moved closer to the stage, with Irvine having piggyback ride from a very reluctant Zell. He was having a particularly hard time with all the drool dropping down to his face. The commotion in FFVII has been held back by Cloud and Barret since it seemed like there would be no end to it if they didn't do anything. But now, Tifa and Aerith were in the middle of a Cold War instead of a World War, Yuffie avoided Vincent by sitting at the opposite side of the table from where he was, and Barret carried Cid in his shoulders and propped him on the floor when he got to the table. As for FFX, tension was running high since they haven't decided on a name yet. Auron and Kimahri seemed to be ashamed to call those people with them their teammates.

"Alright then, now that we're all gathered, let's reveal our team names, shall we?" Tiffany smiled at them. "FFVII, want to go first?" she looked at the team of FFVII.

"Highwind!"

"Highwind…that's an…interesting name,"she said, nodding.

"That's not our fuckin' team name, you piece of shit!" Barret yelled while clonking Cid in the head with his gun arm.

"It's Avalanche, Team Avalanche," Cloud said.

"Yeah, tha's right. Us in Team Avalanche will leave you losers in the dust!" Barret exclaimed to the other two teams.

"Avalanche, huh? That's what I first expected." Tiffany said. "Could you guys be any more obvious?" she giggled. "Ok, so for FFVII, we've got Team Avalanche. FFVIII, will you share yours?"

"Team Ragnarok!" Selphie exclaimed, punching a fist in the air.

"It'll be the end of your worlds once we're through with you!" Zell said, focusing mainly on Barret.

"Ragnarok? Well, wasn't really expecting that. I thought you'd go for SeeD." Tiffany replied. She felt a little 'let down' since she was expecting some cute names.

"Nice," Xain said to himself in the sidelines. He was rather fond with cool names, especially 'Ragnarok'.

"Alright, for FFVIII, we have Team Ragnarok!" Tiffany announced. "Now, FFX? You've got a team name?"

"Ohno,ohno,ohno,ohno,ohno! We don't have one!" a terrified Rikku said.

"Let's just go for Yevon ya? We don't have any other choice!" Wakka said.

"What? No way! Compared to those names they have? We'd be a laughing stock!" Tidus responded, disapprovingly.

"Yuna, you are the summoner here. The fate of our group lies on your hands" Lulu said ominously.

"Please Lulu, put no pressure!" Yuna said. She wasn't sure herself.

"Hey guys, we'll give you up to five minutes to think your name through, and then you'll have to tell us what you've decided. But remember, once you've decided, you cannot change it again." Tiffany told them. She thought that she should cut them some slack.

"Moogles! Why not Moogles?" Rikku suggested. "They're cute, and fluffy, and…and…fluffy."

"Reality check Rikku, we don't have Moogles where we live," Tidus told her.

"Yeah, I always wondered why. Atleast some Moogle Aeons would be nice." Yuna said dreamily, imagining she was summoning a Moogle Aeon.

"Ahem," Lulu said, pointing to her Moogle doll, but no one seemed to notice her.

"Hey Yuna, don't you have a Moogle dressthing?" Wakka asked Yuna. "I thought I saw you wearing it once in battle."

"You were wearing a Moogle costume in battle?" Tidus looked at Yuna, disbelieving.

"Hey! Don't ask me about it. Not like it was my choice. But I must admit, it has the best abilities." She told him. "Oh, and it was a Mascot dressshere Wakka."

"Hehe! Remember one of our missions Yunie? You know, where you had to wear 'the Gullwings' most prized dressphere'?" Rikku giggled.

"Yeah, I was itching like…" Yuna replied but was cut off by Auron.

"You people are impossible! You're wasting your time with mindless talk…again!" Auron yelled at them.

"Sheesh! Give us a break Auron. We were just talking." Tidus said.

"Talk later, think now!" Auron told them

"How about Chocobo?" Yuna suggested, half jokingly.

"Nice one, Yunie!" Rikku giggled.

Auron shook his head and leaned over to Kimahri, "Great, the other teams have Avalanche and Ragnarok, and we're stuck with Chocobo."

"I suppose you two don't have any idea what name we should use?" Lulu asked the two silent guardians. Auron shrugged, and Kimahri didn't answer.

"Well, it's been over five minutes people, and ronso, have you decided yet?" The hostess asked the team, but all of them shook their heads.

"Nemesis," Kimahri finally spoke up.

"Nemesis?" Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, and Rikku asked in unison.

"Nemesis, the strongest fiend of the Monster Arena." Lulu said in a-matter-of-factly tone.

"Hm…excellent choice Kimahri." Auron said, glancing at Kimahri, and the Ronso nodded back.

"Awsome! We've got a name that could knock the socks off the other teams!" Rikk exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, no doubt!" Tidus said, holding a hand up to Kimahri for a high five, but he didn't accept, so Rikku took it for him.

"Isn't that name a little too…I don't know…menacing?" Yuna said, in doubt.

"Well that's the point ya! Besides it's unanimous. Nemesis it is!" Wakka said to Yuna.

"Hey wait a minute! Last I checked, I'm the summoner here!" Yuna retorted.

"Wow Yunie, don't be so negative about the team name. And besides, there aren't any summoners anymore remember? You're a slut now, you know!" Rikku said jokingly.

Yuna's face was burning up due to Rikku's statement. "Well you were worse in the sequel. And F.Y.I., I'm a high summoner"

"Geez , can't you take a joke?" Rikku said. She wasn't in the mood to start a fight with her cousin.

"Okay…if you guys are finished arguing…"Tiffany stated, a little unsure about herself. "You sure you want to be Team Nemesis?

"Wait, n…" Yuna tried to stop them but she was held back by Wakka.

"Calm down ya. You'll learn to like it!" he told her.

"Like it, my ass," Yuna exclaimed. The group turned to her in shock. They have never heard their summoner curse before.

"Er…ahem…well, since it is unanimous, FFX shall now be Team Nemesis!" Tiffany told the crowd.

"About fucking time they chose a name." Cid said who apparently woke up minutes ago.

"Well, since that's all settled, the meeting is adjourned and you all better get yourself some shut eye. You'll never know who'll be going first tomorrow!" the hostess told the crowd. "My brother and I will see you here at 9:00 a.m. sharp for the first challenge. See you until then!" Tiffany said and she exited the room with Xain on her heels.

"Yo, what are we gonna do about him?" Zell asked the group, pointing at Irvine who still wasn't awakened from his revere.

"Just bring him up to your room. You, Squall, and Irvine are roommates after all." Quistis told him as she, Rinoa and Selphie left, with Angelo tagging along behind them.

"Oh come on!" Zell shouted at them, but they easily ignored him. Squall got up to head to their room, leaving Zell alone with Irvine. "Hey Squall! A little help here?" He called after him, but just like the girls, Squall disregarded him.

"Frickin hell."

>

>

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Next chapter: two challenges await! I decided to give you reviewers some power to vote for the team you want to win, 'cause some might complain that their favorite character lost, yatta yatta yatta. Just state the team/character in your review!

1st Challenge: Stealing Spree- Yuffie vs. Rikku

2nd Challenge: Iron Fist- Tifa vs. Zell

_A/N So, what are you waiting for? Please read and review. It would really mean a lot to me!_


	2. Our Thief is better than Your Thief

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything mention in this fic except for the co-hosts... _

_Hi, sorry for the long update__I've just been busy lately so I barely had time to write. And I must say that I have a feeling I didn't to well in this chapter, even though I did my best. And I didn't include the challenge between Tifa and Zell since this chapter was getting too long. So instead, I just added another participant in the Stealing Spree. Anyway, here's one really long chappy for your entertainment. Hope you like it!_

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**_Chapter 2: Our Thief is better than Your Thief_**

"Alright people! It's time for the first challenge!" Tiffany said when she took the microphone in her hands. "Its 9:00 sharp and I must congratulate you guys for coming in on time, well except those who're late of course. You know what, it's a pity for those who didn't make it 'cause they'd be missing a chance of a life time, not to mention the…hey!" Tiffany exclaimed as Xain grabbed the microphone from her hands.

"As my sis was saying, today is the start of the tournament, and the announcing of the first challenge. What will the challenge be? Well, you'll find out. Who will participate? That will be up to you." Xain stated with such a professional tone in his voice. He handed the microphone back to his sister and muttered, "Your welcome," with deep sarcasm.

Tiffany grabbed the microphone and hissed at him irritably, "what was that for? I was handling myself pretty well, you know."

Xain simply replied, "You were babbling." Then he descended the steps of the stage.

"Whatever," she muttered under her breath. Then she raised the microphone to her lips. "Alright guys, ears and eyes on me. The first challenge chosen for today is...the 'Stealing Spree'. In this challenge, it's all about stealing. As if it isn't obvious enough!" She said laughing at herself.

Upon hearing what the first challenge was, Team Nemesis already knew who their participant should be.

"Well, we all know who should enter this challenge, don't we guys?" Tidus said to the group, elbowing Rikku.

Rikku, who was apparently asleep, woke up with a jolt. "Huh…wha…?" she looked around at her team. The bags in her eyes were displayed clearly at her face.

"The challenge ya! You get to go first!" Wakka told her.

"What? Why me?" she asked, rubbing her watery eyes. "Is it because you need someone as pretty as me for the challenge? You could always choose Yunie or Lulu over there." She said, pointing at the two girls.

"As flattered as I am, I simply cannot accept a challenge that requires speed." Lulu stated.

"Well, I would accept, but you're our master thief Rikku and I…" Yuna yawned, "…am just too sleepy to enter anything right now."

"Same here," Rikku said with a yawn. "Is it too late for any of you to upgrade your sphere grid with my skills? You do have some sphere levels left, don't you?" her teammates shook their heads. "Kimahri?" she looked at the Ronso pleadingly.

"Kimahri did not take path of thief. Kimahri take path of warrior, path of Tidus." Kimahri replied with his usual monotone voice.

"Aw man…" Rikku sighed, slumping down with her head on the table. The situation was hopeless in her case.

"By the way," Auron started, "why are you two girls exhausted today?"

Both Yuna and Rikku let out some weak giggles, "Well…uh…"

"They both stayed up late talking about the cute boys in the Ragnarok group. I could barely go to sleep with all their giggling and shrieking." Lulu explained to Auron.

Auron looked at them sternly that Yuna ducked her head in regret and Rikku scratched her face in embarrassment.

"Why would you two be talking about some other guys when you've got me! The star of the Zanarkand Abes!" Tidus said jokingly, pointing to himself.

"You'd better hold you're tongue ya." Wakka said while ruffling Tidus' hair.

Auron shook his head, "Urgh, never mind. The point is that we have our participant." He looked at Rikku in the eye, "Don't let us down."

Rikku blushed, swallowed hard, and turned away. "Yeah, okay."

At the FF7 team, the group was having a hard time fairing against a very hyper Yuffie. She got so excited that she was dancing, not around the table, but on it. Lucky for her that Vincent left to find the can.

"I get to enter the first challenge, you guys don't!" she said in a sing-song voice, laughed heartily to herself.

"Get off the fuckin' table yah bitch. Why can't yah just jump for joy on the ground like normal people!" Barret screamed at her.

"You can't order me around fatso, 'cause I'm your only hope of winning this challenge," she told Barret haughtily.

"Those assholes at Ragnarok are staring at yah. Get your butt on your seat right now!" Cid said, trying to yank her off the table, but she evaded his hands with an effortless back flip.

Aerith was getting concerned with the situation. "Yuffie please. We know you're a capable thief for this challenge. You don't have to prove anything to us," she told Yuffie with some puppy-dog eyes.

"Yeah Aerith, sweet talk her. That'll certainly calm her down." Tifa said sarcastically. Apparently those two have yet to call a truce.

"Then what do you propose? I burn her with Fire materia?" Aerith retorted with an icy glare.

Tifa raised her fist. "Probably, or better yet, I'll just…"

"Tifa," Red cut in before Tifa could throw her punch at Aerith. "Knock it off already. Yuffie is best suited for this challenge, so let's let her do as she pleases."

"What! That's bullshit! Don't tell me your ears haven't bled from her hysterical laughs yet!" Barret said, pointing at Yuffie who was indeed clutching her stomach, laughing with an ear-splitting, high-pitched laugh. She must have found Tifa and Aerith's argument extremely amusing.

When she finally calmed down, she said, "Yeah, that's right. Listen to the pooch. At least he's not a nitwit like you are!"

"A nitwit? Oh I'll show you a nitwit!" Barret raised his gun arm to fire, but Cloud slammed it down the table using the dull edge of his sword. "You dumbass! What are you trying to pull?"

"Nuthin. Just stopping you from eliminating our chances of winning the first challenge. If we knew that the other teams have suckers entering this challenge, then we could've let you represent us." Cloud said in a calm monotone voice.

Barret's head was burning up. He opened his mouth to retort but then decided against it when he saw Yuffie doing back flips and summersaults on the table. "Urgh, fine. Whatever."

"That's it, give it up." Yuffie said with an extremely amused expression on her face. "There's no way you can do this, can you?" showing off some more of her acrobatic skills.

"Shut your craphole," Barret said under his breath. Steam was actually shooting out of his ears since Yuffie wouldn't quit bragging about how cool she was.

"Sit down you damned ballerina. You're getting me nauseated" Cid told her.

"Like you could push around 'The World's Greatest Ninja'," she said sticking her tongue at him, while everyone sighed in unison at her statement.

Things weren't looking pretty good for the FFVIII troop. Not one of them had any idea who they should sign up for the challenge, not to mention the mystery of Selphie's disappearance.

"This is whack ya'll. We don't have a participant for the Stealing Spree." Zell said. They've been debating for minutes on who should represent Team Ragnarok.

"Well, this is actually a simple situation if any of you actually thought it through," Quistis said in a matter-of-factly tone with her arms crossed. "All we have to do is enter any one of us then junction the Mug ability and probably Auto-Haste to enhance our speed."

"That is a brilliant plan Quis, but none of us are natural born thieves. It would be kind of difficult, don't you think?" Rinoa replied, scratching her cheek.

"Get a clue, will yah! That's what the junction abilities are for. You could be so clueless sometimes," Irvine said. He was twirling his hat around his index finger with boredom.

"Well actually, I just find the junction system dreadfully complicated." Rinoa replied. Angelo, who was sitting beside her, barked in agreement.

"Hey guys, we should really get this on you know." Said a very impatient Zell.

"But what about Selphie?" Rinoa asked, scratching Angelo's ear.

"Ah, forget about her. Hey Squall, it's your call. Which of us should join?" Zell turned to the very stoic leader.

"Who cares? Choose whoever you want," he said with an uninterested tone in his voice.

"Squall, you're team leader. The decision must always be up to you. I thought I taught you better than that back in Garden," Quistis said.

Irvine cut in the conversation, "Oh come on Quis, not this again. How many times must we remind you that…"

"I know! I'm not an instructor anymore! Sheesh, calm down." Quistis said a little irritated. _Well, for now I'm not. But mark my word, I will be an instructor again. WILL SOMEONE REPLAY THE GAME ALREADY!_

Squall, getting irritated himself, answered his ex-instructor, "Fine, but we're gonna need someone small and nimble for this challenge," he looked around the table trying to find the person he meant. "Where's Selphie?"

"Didn't you notice Squall? She hasn't arrived yet. Hope she's okay though," Rinoa replied, a little worried.

Suddenly, the doors of the hall burst open, and in came a very exhausted Selphie. Everyone in the room had their eyes on her. Even Yuffie stopped prancing on the table to catch a glimpse of the new arriver.

As she ran, Selphie could was felt embarrassed since many people were staring at her. She got a little panicky, but when she spotted her team's table she got more relaxed and she waved at them as she made her way through the hall.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late," she said to them, short in breath.

Seeing the fellow comrade they were looking for arrive, the five looked at each other, nodded, and then turned to Selphie.

"What?" she asked a little lost and confused.

Up in the stage, Tiffany grabbed the microphone to announce the participants of the challenge.

"Well, seems like everyone has chosen a participant for this day's event. For Avalanche, we have Yuffie Kisaragi." Tiffany announced.

Being more hyper than she was before, Yuffie jumped off the table and did a number of gymnastic moves throughout the hall. Some moaned in annoyance while others, most of them girls, clapped in astonishment.

"And I thought she couldn't get any worse," Barret muttered.

A little anime sweat drop formed in the co-host's head. "Er…ehe…yes, very fascinating display Yuffie. Impressive…yet disturbing," she added.

Yuffie continued her little demonstration, that Barret and Cid were getting annoyed as hell. But before they could do anything, the door burst open again. But this time, who else would be entering but the vengeful vampire himself, but few noticed his entrance due to the little show ensuing in the hall.

"Yuffie," he said through gritted teeth. He took out his triple-barreled gun and aimed at the unsuspecting ninja. This time he wasn't gonna miss for sure.

Just when he took his shot, Xain came up from behind him and lifted Vincent's arm to change his target. Instead of having the ninja blasted to smithereens, the bullet hit chandelier and fell a good distance to Ragnarok's table.

When she heard the gunshot from a very familiar gun, Yuffie ran toward their table and hid beneath it in fear.

"Thank god." Cid said when Yuffie finally quit her annoying dance.

The SeeDs, along with Angelo, were able to get out of the way in time, except for the ever so helpless Rinoa. The chandelier caught her left leg and she was unable to move or lift the humungous thing up.

"Squall, help me!" Rinoa pleaded.

"Why should I?" Squall replied as if nothing life threatening happened.

"Don't you even care that I'm hurt?"

"No."

Rinoa had an incredulous look in her face due to Squall's statement. "But…but I thought we're together now! The battle, the time travel, our theme song 'Eyes on Me', the kiss we shared in Garden, it meant nothing to you?"

Zell leaned toward Selphie, "Yo, did you know about the kiss?"

"Duh, of coarse I did. I was filming it!" Selphie replied.

"Sweet! You've got to lend the tape to me when we get back to Garden." Zell said.

Squall looked down at Rinoa, "Of course it didn't. We were making a game, not living reality. Don't tell me you took those conversations and cheesy lines seriously."

"Well…I…" Rinoa said. She was feeling seriously lost right now.

Many people were gazing at the live soap opera in the hall, especially the group of FFX.

"Whoa, that's really sad, you know," Rikku said shaking her head. The crash of the chandelier, and the drama before them had finally woken her up.

"Yeah, I know." Tidus replied. "That blue girl thought their game was reality. It must be really hard to take seeing that…wait a sec, does that me Yuna and I aren't a couple?" Tidus said aghast.

Rikku giggled, "Of coarse not! Geez, don't tell you got tricked too?" she giggled even more that she had to press her hand over her mouth to calm herself down. _This guy is so slow!_

"What! But…but…there's no way…" Tidus stuttered. He couldn't believe it himself, but he felt tears forming in his right eye.

Rikku was laughing so hard by now. The look in Tidus' face about his sudden realization was simply hilarious. Auron, having heard their conversation, cut in.

"Cut it out Rikku. You wouldn't want to make him cry." He said calmly, still staring at Rinoa who was being helped up with her bloody leg by some people who worked at the building.

"I…can't believe it. What about all those shoopuf and chocobo rides? Don't tell me those where fake too," Tidus asked Rikku.

"Yep! Totally fake! The Shoopuf was an elephant who had an extreme makeover and the chocobos were just chickens who were given a bunch of steroids!" Tidus' mouth opened in shock due to her statement.

"That's enough Rikku! Tell the poor kid the truth already," Auron said looking at Rikku sternly.

"Alright, alright! Man Tidus, I can't believe you fell for that!" Rikku exclaimed, almost laughing herself to death.

"Rikku! You almost made the thought of suicide seem inviting!" Tidus said. Honestly, there are times when he just wanted to gag the Al Bhed. "But then what about her?" he asked Auron, pointing at Rinoa.

"That kid's just playing a joke on her. Probably hates her guts," Auron explained.

"That's weird. Their logo shows the both of them hugging. Shouldn't they be a couple?" Rikku asked pointing to the FFVIII logo, but Auron just shrugged.

Back with the FFVII group, Xain was trying to hold back a fuming Vincent.

"Alright wise guy, it's time out for you." Xain said to him, holding his arms firmly.

"I…must…avenge…" Vincent said. He had his limit gauge filled, so he prepared to transform into Chaos.

"Oh great. Guess I'll need the professional for this one. Buffy! Get over here!" Xain called out.

Out of nowhere, Buffy the vampire slayer appeared at his side. "What's the case?" she asked him, readying her stake.

"I just need you to too take this vampire to the detention room. He's been a very bad boy." He said to her, pointing at the slowly transforming Vincent.

With that, Buffy did a couple of kicks before Vincent had fully transformed and knocked him out. Since she didn't have any help, she had to drag the vampire all the way to the detention room. And boy was she having a hard time!

"Nothing to it," Xain said, congratulating himself as if he did all the work.

Back with Squall and Rinoa in the FFVIII soap opera, Rinoa could barely hold back her tears.

"Squall, how could you? All those moment we shared together…" Rinoa stammered, trying not to look at Squall in the eye.

"Whatever," Squall said. "And about those moments we shared, I was just following the script, what do you expect? Did you think I really wanted to be paired with you in the first place? I even wished you got the part of the 'desperate instructor', but I guess the director had a thing for brunettes always getting the lead role." Having said what he had to say, Squall turned back and took a seat on the table next to FFX.

The medics took a devastated, hurt, and abandoned Rinoa to the medical wing. Even they felt sorry for her, not for being heart broken, but for falling for the joke Squall made up. Angelo, who felt the same as the medics, growled at Squall then turned to follow her gullible master.

"Yo, that was tight dude!" Zell said, slapping Squall in the back when the group got to the table. "I can't believe she fell for it. And I can't believe you're a natural prankster."

"I just wanted to get back at her for bothering me yesterday night," Squall said with a malicious smile.

"What exactly did she do yest…"Zell asked but was cut off by Irvine.

"Hey! I've got a bone to pick! Rinoa cried because of your prank, and I hate it when girls cry," Irvine said, getting irritated at Squall.

"Put a sock on it lover boy, the co-host is up," Selphie said, whacking Irvine in the head.

"So…uh…sorry about the inconvenience people, ronso, and strange cat thingy," Tiffany said. Red's fur stiffened up in rage due to being called a strange cat thingy. "Since the mess is sorted out, we should get on to the announcing of the three participants."

"And I thought the challenge would get canceled." Cloud said in an irritated tone.

"Alright, for Ragnarok, I see we have…Selphie Tilmit!" Tiffany announced.

"What!" Selphie said screamed in shock. "You signed me up for the challenge? What is it anyway?" she asked. She didn't know if she had to be excited or worried.

"It's the Stealing Spree. You just steal stuff, that's all." Irvine explained.

"But I don't know anything about thievery," Selphie said. It was the first time in her life that she felt worried as hell. She feared that she might let her team down.

"Don't worry, we have it covered. We'll give you Diablos and Cerberus so you can junction Mug and Auto-Haste for your abilities. You'll do fine, trust me," Quistis reassured her.

"Easier said than done," Selphie said to herself as she sighed.

"And finally," Tiffany's voice boomed, "we have Rikku…er…something…representing team Nemesis!"

"Great, why is it that we don't have last names?" Rikku asked.

"The person who named us probably wet whacko before he could get us some cool surnames," Wakka replied.

"Alright, we have our participants, now all we need is to assemble to Mt. Gagazet," Tiffany announced. "It's in the world of team Nemesis! Excited anyone?"

"Gagazet?" the crowd said in unison.

"What stupid bastard gave you that damned idea?" Aerith shouted that everyone in her team stared at her in shock. Even Tifa got a little worried.

"You've been hanging with Barret for too long," Red told her.

"No, actually it's the shitty guys I met in the stupid Lifestream that I hung out with for a while. Wouldn't stop bitching about the rotten lives they had." She replied.

Her team still looked at her in concern.

"Alright, I'll stop now!" she said innocently.

"How are we gonna get their anyway? Hike all the way up?" Selphie asked.

"Oh no, no, no. All we have to do is this!" Tiffany snapped her fingers and the gang found themselves in Gagazet cave. "Teleport!"

There were many who were awed by the sight of the humongous cave, though some were disgusted since they landed on some muddy puddles, especially Tifa and Quistis.

"That was so awesome ya!" Wakka exclaimed.

"Hey Kimahri, glad to be back home?" Yuna asked the silent Ronso, and he nodded in approval.

"Okay then, now that we're here, I'll be explaining the rules thoroughly." Tiffany said. "The cave is filled with a variety of monsters which we call in this world, fiends. This challenge is of course all about stealing, but the points you get depends on the items you steal. The rarer the item, the higher the points. Naturally, the person with the highest points wins."

She looked around at the crowd to see if they were keeping up. "There is a deadly, but not impossible to beat, boss looming this cave. If you are able to steal a Dark Matter from the beast, you'll be rewarded with a heck of points," She explained.

The participants, namely Yuffie, Selphie, and Rikku, nodded.

"Doesn't seem hard. But I'd rather stay away from the beast. Better safe than sorry you know!" Selphie said. She was feeling a lot better since the challenge didn't seem that tough.

"Amen to that," Yuffie replied.

"Oh, and did I mention that the challenge ends when one of you slays it?" Tiffany asked.

"Hey, no fair! Why can't there just be a time limit?" Rikku asked.

"We wanted things to be more interesting," said Xain when he finally spoke up. "Alright, stealers ready?" he asked.

Yuffie, who was really pumped up, was doing some exercises in a much exaggerated way. Selphie was junctioning Diablos and Cerberus, making sure that she had the right abilities. And Rikku checked her stock of grenades and readied her goggles since she planned to do some underwater fiend fighting.

Each of the teams wished their participant good luck, then they were teleported to a sort of movie theater with 3 separate screens. The 3 screens were used to focus the 3 participants to see how they were fairing in the challenge.

"Wow, 3 screens, 3 babes. What more could a guy want?" Irvine said happily, that Quistis whacked him in the head (again) with her fist. The blow was harder than expected though, that Irvine got knocked out.

Tiffany stood in front to welcome the guests. "Hey guys! Welcome to the Theater! This is where you guys will be transported every time there will be challenges that won't involve the entire team. The screen to the left is for Avalanche, the center is for Ragnarok, and finally the right is for Nemesis. Enjoy the show! And don't forget to cheer for your team!" she said and she stepped aside for the others to enjoy.

Back in the field, Xain stood in front of the girls to begin the challenge, "The challenge starts in 5…4…3…2…1…GO!"

With that, the girls darted forward in search of their first prey.

"You are so going down blondie!" Yuffie said to Rikku with a wicked smile.

"In your dreams weirdo! This is my turf! Rikku shouted at her. _Well actually, it's Kimahri's turf, but hey, this is my world!_

"Keep chatting ladies. We'll see who gets the lead. See yah." Selphie said, and then she zoomed forward and took a left turn at the fork.

Rikku and Yuffie looked in astonishment as Selphie zipped past them.

"Whoa, seems like we have competition," Rikku said, a bit worried herself.

"Even with haste on her side, she's still no match for 'The World's Greatest Ninja'!" Yuffie exclaimed.

When they both reached the fork, Yuffie took the middle path and Rikku took the right. Now all of them were split apart.

**Theater**

"Yo! You people had better give it up! Our Selphie is equipped with Auto-Haste so there's no friggin way your challengers will keep up." Zell shouted with his voice echoing throughout the Theater.

"Put a sock in it!" Tidus shouted back at Zell.

"Yeah! Shut up, bastard!" Aerith also shouted. Her voice was even louder than Zell's.

"You tell him girl!" Barret said to her.

Aerith's sudden change in character has gotten Tifa extremely anxious, but it didn't mean that their argument was over. "Zip it Aerith! I got my shoes covered with mud but you don't see me cursing about it!"

"That's because you're such a goody-two-shoes!" Aerith retorted.

"You know, with that attitude, there's no way I'm gonna lose to you when it comes to winning a date with Cloud." She said, but then regretted that she did, because now Aerith was back to being the annoying, innocent flower girl she was.

**Field**

The girls have gotten their hands on different rare items they stole. Selphie got some Bomb Cores and Fire Gems when she explored the darker parts of the cave. Rikku got some Water Crystals and Fish Fins when she did a little underwater exploring. As for Yuffie, well…she found three shiny orbs (orange, green, and blue), which she thought were materia, stuck to a cave wall. She didn't know that the orbs she found were actually used for the 1st trial of Gagazet.

After hours of stealing from fiends in Gagazet and debating on whose team will win in the Theater, a challenger finally spotted the beast they were supposed to slay. It was the Sanctuary Guardian!

"The Sanctuary Guardian? Oh please! I could slay this thing in my sleep!" Rikku exclaimed. Then the beast unleashed its deadly tail whip which Rikku barely avoided. "Ok…maybe not."

It unleashed another tail whip at Rikku, but she wasn't lucky enough to evade it this time.

**Theater**

"Hah! That Rikku from Nemesis stinks ass! I could've avoided that attack with my eyes closed!" Cid said, lighting a cigarette.

"You shut your mouth ya!" Wakka shouted. He threw his blitzball straight at Cid, and it hit him right at the face, causing him to accidentally eat his cigarette.

"coughYcoughOUcoughBAScoughTARDcough!"

**Field**

Selphie found the Sanctuary Guardian just minutes after Rikku did. She spotted Rikku on the floor, face-down, at the mercy of the beast. "Uh-oh! Watch out!"

Rikku reacted to Selphie's scream and managed to roll over, evading the beast's devastating claws. "Whew! That was…close! Thanks…" Rikku said in short breath.

But the next attack the Sanctuary Guardian unleashed was unavoidable that both girls suffered major status ailments. Selphie got Poisoned, Blinded, and had a bad case of Zombie effect. Rikku got Poisoned, Blinded, and Slowed.

"Oh no! I can't see! And why do I feel so sluggish? Urgh!" Selphie clutched her head. She didn't know that it was the Zombie effect that was making her feel weak. "Its times like these that you'll need a guardian to protect you. A Guardian Force to be exact!" Selphie calmed her mind and concentrated to summon Diablos.

In the meantime, Rikku was also having a hard time. "Where's that Megalixir of mine? I'm sure I mixed one before the challenge started!" she blindly fumbled through her bag and she finally felt what she was looking for. "Heads up Selphie! A Megalixir is on the way!" she said and she threw the Megalixir on the air.

Selphie was doing her little dance before she summons a GF. But before she could finish it, she felt weaker and weaker by the second. Before she even knew it, she got knocked-out.

**Theater**

Ragnarok was in an uproar since Selphie has been knocked-out and eliminated from the challenge.

"That's not fair!" Quistis complained to the co-host. "Selphie has been knocked-out by a challenger! Not a fiend! That should be a…foul or…or…something!"

"Rikku didn't do it on purpose!" Yuna replied. She was doing her best to defend her cousin. "Beside the rules didn't state that you can't knock-out a fellow challenger."

"Girls please!" Tiffany was thinking about what both of them said, and thought that Yuna's argument was more relevant. "I'm sorry Quistis, but Selphie is out of the game. Yuna made an excellent point about the rules. Again, I'm sorry."

"Urgh!" Quistis cried, throwing her hands up in defeat.

**Field**

"Selphie! Oh no! I killed her!" Rikku screamed.

"She's just knocked-out silly! Remember? We don't die unless it's in the script! Take Aerith for example!" Yuffie said from behind her. After minutes of searching, she finally spotted the Sanctuary Guardian.

"Er…right…I knew that," Rikku replied. "So…we gonna take this thing down or what?

"Not until I take the Dark Matter first!" Yuffie exclaimed and she darted toward the beast.

"Don't forget. This is my turf, and you're going down!" Rikku said, also darting toward the beast "Where is it anyway?"

Yuffie shrugged. _Best to check its head._ She sped forward and leaped on its back, checking every part of its wings. But before she could reach its head, she got thrown off its back and she landed on her butt.

"Smooth," Rikku said to her sarcastically. "Watch a real master in action!" she said, pointing to herself.

The beast's back was turned to her, unleashing a dozen tail whip attacks. She dashed forward, evading every attack the beast threw. She extended her left arm to grab hold of the root of its tail, but when she did, the beast raised its tail and her left hand shot right inside a certain hole found below the tail.

**Theater**

The whole room roared with laughter. Seeing Rikku's left hand (the one with the big glove) stuck to the Sanctuary Guardian's butt was surely a sight to be witnessed! Cloud and Squall, who were dozing off during the challenge, actually looked up and cracked some little smiles.

"Now that's something you don't see everyday," Auron said. He was keeping his expression as serious as he can.

Tidus, who was enjoying the scene, wasn't grossed out by the picture at all. "Well, looks like I found another use for that ridiculously large glove of hers: scraping up fiend feces!"

"Good one ya!" Wakka laughed hysterically due to his comment.

"That's so…urgh" Yuna held her hand above her mouth to keep herself from barfing.

"Yuna, are you alright?" asked a very concerned Lulu.

"No…I need a barf bag!" before she had a chance to swallow the bits of vomit in her mouth (to keep her from spitting it of coarse), the breakfast she had this morning came out and landed right on Lulu's dress!

**Field**

"Eww! Gross!" Yuffie said as she witnessed the sight before her. She managed to cast a sleep spell to calm the Sanctuary Guardian down.

Rikku's face was getting greener by the second. "Eeek! This has got to be worse that being hit with a thunder spell!" she screamed.

"Then pull you hand out already. You're making my butt tingle!" Yuffie said, covering her face with her hands.

Rikku took a deep breath (which was a bad idea since she got a whiff of feces while doing so) and pulled her hand out slowly. But before she pulled it all the way out, she felt a little bottle inside the fiend's butt. She grasped her fingers around it and finally pulled her hand free.

When Rikku looked at what she got, she realized it was the Dark Matter! "I got it! I got it!" she exclaimed, holding the tiny bottle with dark fluid firmly in her hand.

"There's certainly no way I'm stealing that from you! I mean, it came from the beast's butt!" Yuffie said.

"I know! Of all the places to hide this thing, they had to choose the rear. Stupid hosts!" Rikku replied. "So…let's finish this!" she said, looking down at the sleeping beast.

"I wouldn't have it any other way!"

They battled the Sanctuary Guardian for an hour until there was nothing left but pyreflies. It wasn't easy, but the first challenge was finally over.

**Back in the Hall**

"Congratulations Team Nemesis! As the victor of the first challenge, you are awarded 30 points!" Tiffany announced. "As for the participants of the challenge, you get to keep the items you stole and use them as you see fit."

"Woohoo! I get to keep these materia!" Yuffie exclaimed, waving the three orbs in the air.

"Sorry Yuffie, but the Ronsos requested those back. Those are extremely crucial to the Trials of Gagazet," Xain said, trying to snatch the orbs away from a very obsessed ninja.

"You're just saying that 'cause you want these for yourself!" Yuffie replied as she darted off to the exit.

"Leave her to Kimahri. Ronso solve Ronso problems." Kimahri said to Xain then he chased after Yuffie.

"Just ignore those guys people." Tiffany said, trying to grab the audience's attention. "Alright, here's the deal. There are still many challenges waiting, so don't let your spirits die out just yet. You may even top our leading team tomorrow after the second challenge! So keep your head in the game!"

After that, the teams were given the day off to rest and recharge. Rinoa was at the infirmary crying her eyes out with a very depressed Angelo. Vincent was released from the Detention Room after getting some annoying speeches from Buffy. And Yuffie was now at the mercy of an enraged Ronso.

Many challenges, surprises, and arguments still await the three Final Fantasy Teams. Question is, are you still interested to find out what?

_** END**  
_

_So, was it any good? Please review after reading. The more reviews I get, the more likely I'll continue this story._

_For the next chapter, it's time for the Battle of the Mascots! Sorry if I skipped the Iron Fist challenge, but I assure you that it will be in future chapters. Anyway, I won't tell you who the three mascots will be or what type of challenge I have planned 'cause it might spoil the story.  
_

_ Avalanche_

_Ragnarok_

_Nemesis_

_Choose the team you want to win! _


End file.
